


Vodka & Caramel

by Pigzxo



Series: Tastes Like You [2]
Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Angst and Fluff and Smut, Canon Era, M/M, not quite smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-20
Updated: 2015-12-20
Packaged: 2018-05-07 19:01:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,894
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5467571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pigzxo/pseuds/Pigzxo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>(Mid Dream Thieves. Spoilers.) Blue and Adam break-up. Adam tells her what happened with Ronan and she's adamant that she's not the only one he needs to apologize to.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Vodka & Caramel

Guilt wracked Adam for days after his make-out session with Ronan. Guilt and daydreams that he wasn’t all that proud of. He swore Ronan was looking at him differently, stealing more glances than usual, his blue eyes hot on his skin. And Adam, more than anything else in the world, just wanted a reason, any reason, to find himself close enough to Ronan to touch, to kiss.

            Thoughts like that kept him up at night so, even though it was a bit of a surprise when Blue broke up with him, he couldn’t say it was uncalled for. And he couldn’t let her walk away from it carrying all the blame.

            “Just...” Adam licked his lips. “Before I go, there’s maybe something I should tell you.”

            Blue’s eyes settled on him, wet with unshed tears. Her breath was caught in her throat, her lips on her teeth. After a second, she nodded. “What?”

            “I...” He licked his lips. He’d already fucked this up badly enough, what with his temper and his disregard for her feelings. And now there was this curse hanging between them and her certainty that he could never be her true love. But he had known that. Somewhere he had to have known that. Adam cleared his throat. “I kind of cheated on you.”

            Blue’s eyes went wide, her tired sadness shooting to anger in a split second. “You _kind of_ cheated on me?” she repeated. “What the hell does that mean?”

            “I did cheat on you.”

            She exhaled a short breath, the edge of a laugh. Shaking her head, she said, “That’s so fucking typical, Adam. What? You couldn’t get what you wanted from me so you found some other slut to kiss you instead?”

            Adam opened his mouth to reply, found he had nothing to say. “I’m sorry.”

            “Oh, and that makes it all better.”

            “Blue—”

            “Just—” She closed her mouth around whatever words were going to be next. Fixing a steely gaze on him, she crossed her arms and said, “Tell me about it.”

            Adam blinked. “What?”

            “You cheated on me and I’m demanding to know what happened. Don’t I deserve to know that?”

            Adam stared at her for a long moment. “I don’t think you really want to know, Blue. And we already broke up anyways.”

            Blue shrugged. “Doesn’t stop me from being mad at you. You really think you can just go around kissing whoever you want because the girl you’re dating doesn’t want to kiss you? You think you can play women against each other like that?”

            “Blue—”

            “Tell me what happened.”

            Adam bit his bottom lip to stop himself from sighing. He met Blue’s eyes and said, “All right. It was a... dare.”

            “It was...” She licked her lips. “You cheated on me because of a dare?”

            “Well, it was my dare.”

            Blue stared at him blankly. “Are you going to say anything that actually makes sense?”

            “Probably not.”

            Blue sighed. “Fine. Tell me who it was, then.”

            Adam froze, but unfortunately, incoherent sounds still left his mouth. Blue tapped her toe against the floorboards and Adam felt himself go red. “That’s, umm...” He failed to find words as Blue glared at him. In his head, he imagined Ronan glaring at him too, both of them in front of him, both of them judging him. “That’s not a good idea.”

            “Why not?” she asked. “Do I know her? Does she go to my school? Are we friends?”

            “Yes?”

            “Who?” Blue repeated. She stepped closer to Adam, fire in her eyes. With each word, she pushed him further back until he hit the wall. “Which one of my friends are you screwing with, Adam?”

            “Ronan,” he said, then immediately regretted it. He had no idea how the word had slipped from his lips, but Blue, tiny as she was, was intimidating as all hell.

            She stared up at him, face blank, for a good thirty seconds. Then she licked her lips, confusion flooding her features, and repeated, “Ronan? You dared Ronan to kiss you?”

            “Yes?”

            There was another long stretch of silence before Blue laughed. The smile came over her face unbidden and lit up the room for a moment before she covered it with her hand. Adam’s heart stung for a moment, frozen in his chest, as he remembered that he’d hurt her.

            “You cheated on me with _Ronan_?” she repeated. Adam nodded. “Well, at least now I know why he hates me.”

            Adam smiled. “I think he’d hate you anyways. He hates me.”

            “He kissed you.”

            Adam shrugged.

            Blue shook her head. “I can’t believe you assholes.”

            “Still in trouble then?”

            She shot him a look. “You’re not getting off the hook just because you happened to hook-up with someone I know instead of someone I don’t really give a crap about. In fact, I think you should be in more trouble for it. And Ronan too.”

            “So that whole, ‘I can’t pit girls against each other’ thing doesn’t hold because it was a guy?”

            Blue pursed her lips. Anger flashed through her eyes, but an impressed spark stayed there. “Fine,” she said. “Are you going to apologize to Ronan?”

            “To Ronan?” Adam blinked and even more guilt curled into the pit of his stomach. His eyes left Blue’s and he stared at his feet for a second. Chewing on his bottom lip, he let the silence in the room build until it was nearly unbearable. “I, uh, kind of haven’t spoken to him since.”

            “You haven’t spoken to him,” Blue said.

            “Yeah.”

            Blue shook her head. “Do you want him to break-up with you too?”

            “I’ve been a little busy,” Adam snapped.

            “Go apologize to him,” Blue said. “Tell him you’re sorry you fucked around with him while you were with me and that you know you’re a sorry excuse for a man.” Adam flinched and she added, softer, “I didn’t mean it like that.”

            Adam nodded, but the words still stung. “I will,” he said.

            “Now.”

            “Now?”

            “Yeah, right now, before you chicken out,” Blue said. “If the next time I see the two of you, you’re awkwardly not talking to each other, I’ll kick your ass.”

            Adam worked hard to swallow his smile and nodded. He said goodbye and walked out of the house, his heart still heavy in his chest. But he pointed his bike towards Monmouth and resolved to apologize to Ronan before he chickened out.

 

Adam knocked on the door of Monmouth Manufacturing and was greeted with silence. He was aware that he could just walk right in, no one had ever stopped him before, but he felt odd on the threshold now. For a second, he felt sorry for himself, having fucked up his entire life so badly just because he wanted to be kissed. And maybe he had even wanted to be kissed by Ronan, no matter how much he complained about Blue.

            He really was well and truly fucked.

            Maybe he shouldn’t have stopped Ronan after all, if the result was the same.

            He waited a solid minute before he knocked again. Then the door blew open, a chill in the air. “Noah?” Adam asked as he stepped inside. Nothing.

            The main room was in disarray, as always. The door to Ronan’s room was closed but the muted bass of music coming from headphones flooded out of it. Adam stared at Ronan’s door for too long and probably shouldn’t have been surprised when the other boy emerged from his room, shirtless with his jeans unbuttoned.

            He looked up when he saw Adam standing there, took him in in one uninterested glance that sent shivers up Adam’s spine. Ronan slid his headphones off; they clasped around his neck. “You need something, Parrish?”

            It took Adam a moment to regain his ability to speak. He was already unsettled, the air cold, and now Ronan was in front of him, half naked, demanding to know why he was there. All in all, apologizing to Blue after being broken up with had been a better situation.

            “Yeah,” Adam said, finally. Ronan raised an eyebrow, but barely moved from where he stood. The static of his music thrummed through the air. “Umm... Gansey here?”

            Ronan shrugged and finally moved in the direction of the bathroom. “Went out,” he said. Then he slammed the bathroom door behind him.

            Yeah. As far as apologies went, talking to Blue had definitely gone better.

            With a deep breath, Adam perched himself on the edge of Gansey’s desk and waited for Ronan to come out. When the toilet flushed, he nearly had a heart attack and stood to wait. Then, thinking that probably looked creepy, him staring at the bathroom door while Ronan pissed, he settled back against the desk, his hands clasped tightly in his lap.

            Ronan walked out and cast him a bored glance. Ronan was good at pretending to be disinterested, so good Adam almost believed him. “You gonna sit and wait for him?” Ronan asked.

            “I actually thought we could talk?” Adam said. He swallowed the words as soon as he said them, Ronan’s blue eyes bored on him.

            “Fine,” Ronan said. He took a step closer and stared at Adam. “About what?”

            “About—” Adam cut himself off, licked his lips. Jesus Christ, Ronan would actually make him say it. Well, Adam wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. Even though he was in the wrong, he wasn’t going to let Ronan play him with his silent tactics. “Look, I’m sorry. Okay?”

            “Sorry?” And that was the first break Adam saw in Ronan’s nonchalant exterior. That one word, spoken with true disbelief, felt just a little sad. Even if no hint of that showed in Ronan’s face, Adam heard it. “Why the fuck would you be sorry?”

            Adam stared at him, tried to figure out what kind of apology he could get Ronan to accept. Most likely, the whole thing was a lost cause, would end with Ronan saying “fuck you” and going back to his room, music louder than before. But he’d promised Blue he’d apologize to Ronan, whether or not Ronan wanted to hear it.

            “It wasn’t fair,” Adam said and immediately he knew he’d chosen the wrong tactic. He pushed on anyways. “I was with Blue and you like me and I shouldn’t have taken advantage of that, okay?”

            There was a long moment of silence, Ronan completely still. His headphones went silent for a moment, a skip between songs, before what sounded like the exact same song started up again. “Thought we decided that I didn’t like you,” Ronan said.

            Adam blinked. “Did you stop?”

            “ _You_ were the one who didn’t stop.”

            Adam smiled as Ronan stepped towards him, dropped his headphones on the floor. Adam said, “As I remember it, you were pretty fucking eager to get back on that bed with me.”

            Ronan shrugged, just a hint of a smile in his expression. He stopped right in front of Adam, just enough space between them that Adam couldn’t say he was pinned against the desk, but he felt like he was. “If you need me to prove it again,” Ronan said, his voice lowering to a growl, “I’m happy to.”

            Adam licked his lips. With a small laugh, he met Ronan’s eyes and said, “I’m trying to fucking apologize to you.”

            “Mmm.” Ronan stepped closer, their hips jarring together. One of his hands touched the side of Adam’s neck, the tips of his fingers in his hair. “You need to lose about two words from that sentence.” He laid a soft kiss on Adam’s lips. “And an ‘ing’.”

            Adam frowned, an expression that didn’t last long when Ronan kissed him again, painstakingly gentle, like he wanted to give him time to figure it out. It was a hard thing to do, no matter how soft the kisses, because Ronan tasted like vodka, strong enough to spark a line through Adam’s body, even with only a hand at his hip, another at his neck. Sweet kisses, the caramel edge of scotch on Ronan’s tongue. Adam relaxed into the kisses, his thought buzzing, and he tried to forget that he had probably not managed to apologize in a manner Blue would see fit.

            After a moment, Ronan pulled away, a long moan trembling between his lips. Adam looked up at him sleepily, drunk on his kiss. “Your girlfriend gonna be mad at me?” Ronan asked.

            Adam shook his head. “Not my girlfriend anymore.”

            When Ronan failed to close the space between them again, Adam took the initiative. He wrapped his hand around the back of Ronan’s neck and pulled him into kisses rougher than the ones he had started. Alcohol was an addiction, one he had probably inherited, but he could live with the consequences if the only place he ever tasted it was on Ronan’s lips.

            Ronan stumbled back from Adam’s force and dropped down onto Gansey’s bed, pulling Adam with him. Adam followed easily, used to the guidance of Ronan’s hands, pressed his body against his on the bed. His hands skipped over Ronan’s smooth skin, the strength of his muscles tense beneath his fingers, cold. He moved his lips lazily, sucked on Ronan’s bottom lip until he heard him groan.

            He felt hands on his own skin, his t-shirt crumpled. He helped Ronan take it off, their lips parted for just a second. And when he looked back down into Ronan’s eyes, at his kiss reddened lips, he couldn’t help but pause for a moment. “You sure I’m forgiven?” he whispered.

            Ronan nodded, pulled him back into a kiss. Adam felt him try to take control, try to flip him over, but Adam held his ground. He pushed Ronan’s hips back into the mattress, let his lips fall to Ronan’s neck. He pressed wet kisses against his skin and found a spot that made him moan, low and unbridled.

            Adam took a deep breath, relaxed. Ronan’s hands were hard on his back, his nails bit into his skin. But Adam felt oddly light, drunk. He had to ask Ronan to stop drinking, to stop tasting of vodka and caramel, addictive to his tongue. Their lips back together, he grazed his teeth along Ronan’s bottom lip, dangerously aware of how close his own hands were to Ronan’s waistband, his thumbs on the skin just above Ronan’s boxers.

            The sounds of Ronan’s pleasure rumbled through both their bodies. His hips rose up off the bed and Adam had to struggle to keep them down, his fingers rough on Ronan’s waist. Ronan’s hands dripped down his back, grabbed his ass. He gasped into Ronan’s mouth and felt the other boy’s smile, sharp against his lips.

            Adam pulled down Ronan’s jeans just enough to take his ass in his hands. Ronan kissed softly at his jaw line, bit into the soft skin at his throat. Some lucid part of Adam’s brain knew it was his job to stop this, but as Ronan ground against him, his breath hot on Adam’s throat, Adam couldn’t seem to grasp that part of his consciousness long enough to pull away. Sweet and sticky, sharp like acid down his throat, Ronan pulled him further into the moment than was safe.

            With a small growl, a sound that made Ronan smile into his skin, Adam circled his hips against Ronan. That smile turned to a gasp, steamy on his skin, and their lips pressed back together, rough kisses pulling at the dead skin of Adam’s lips. Adam’s hands slipped across Ronan’s skin, pushed his pants down a little further, fingers on thighs.

            “On my bed?” a voice said.

            Adam pulled out of the kiss, probably too slow. He could feel Ronan’s lips clinging to him, unable to give him up. He looked up at Gansey, who stood in the doorway, a thick book clutched at his side.

            Ronan bent his neck back to look at him, smile feral. “You wanna join?” he said.

            “Just get off my bed,” Gansey said. He closed the door behind him. “Go corrupt Parrish in your own bed.”

            Ronan sighed, then sat up with a quickness that made Adam regain some sense. He sat back, gave Ronan room to wriggle back into his jeans. “We should probably stop,” Ronan said. He stood up off the bed, then turned back to give Adam a quick kiss. With a wink, he added, “After all, Parrish thinks we’re too young.”

            Adam couldn’t even find the energy to turn his head and watch Ronan go. He sat back on his heels, stared unseeing at a spot on the wall. He was vaguely aware of Gansey crossing the room and taking a seat in front of the boxes of documents that lined the far wall.

            “Can you help me look through these, Adam?” he asked.

            “Umm,” Adam said. He blinked, took a deep breath. “Yeah. Just a second.”

            “What about Blue?” Gansey said.

            “It’s over.”

            “You think you can handle yourself with Ronan?”

            Adam snorted. Finally he managed to get to his feet. He licked his lips, sweet vodka fading. “Not a chance,” he said. He took a seat beside Gansey and listened to the other boy explain what they were looking for before he started to dig through the boxes. From the other room, the soft thrum of Ronan’s music drifted under the door.


End file.
